Motorcycle Gangs Examined in Tattoo Parlor Shooting

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The idea that there is a correlation between body art and "deviance" raised eyebrows among people who have tattoos.

Police in Hamden say a shooting earlier this week could be linked to a motorcycle gang. The victim was shot right outside of his tattoo parlor on Dixwell Avenue.

Police haven’t named any suspects in the Tuesday night shooting. Still the people closest to the crime scene say they aren’t worried about their safety and seem certain that Joseph Ferraiolo was targeted.

"To me it seems like there was some inside or some targeting here because we never ever had problems here," says Steve Frydman who has owned a real estate business on the second floor of this building for 20 years.

In that time he says he's never experienced the violence police say took place right below his office, "the space that they rented here was always quiet and discrete I never saw any unusual amount of people at once that would come here."

Things changed Tuesday just after 8pm. Hamden Police were called to a Touch of Color tattoo parlor where they found 64-year-old Ferraiolo shot to death.

There were signs of a struggle inside the shop but few clues pointed to the shooter. Now investigators are looking at all leads, including Ferraiolo’s possible affiliation to motorcycle gangs.

"Summer time they have a lot of bike guys coming over there," Jimmy Patel owns a package store close to Touch of Color, he remembers seeing the bikes parked outside.

But Kaleb Edgar, a tattoo artist at the parlor tells NBC Connecticut News that nothing illegal happened in the shop.

Bob Piccirillo, the owner of Hamden Barber Shop, also calls the connection police are trying to make between Ferraiolo and a gang a stretch, "have I seen bikes? I’ve seen some but it’s not like they all congregate. Like I said, I’ve seen a couple of them but that is kind of surprising to me."

Edgar says Ferraiolo is survived by four adult children. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Hamden Police Department.